Railway-track appliance.



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RAILWAY `fIRACK APPLIANCE. JPPLICATION rlLzuNov. 19.1915.v

Patented May 29, 1,917.A

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UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

JOHN' W. THOMAS, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,'ASSIGNOR TOTIIE THOMAS RAILWAYTRACK APPLIANCE COMPANY, A COBFORATION 01|? KANSAS.

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Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented May 29, 1917.

' Application moa November 19, 1915.' serial No. 62,390.

To a'Z-Z 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN W. THoMAs, a citizen of the United States,residing'at Chicago, in the county of Cook andlStateo Illinois, haveinvented certain new and' useful Improvements in Railway-TrackAppliances, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railway track appliances, andone object `of the invention is to provide a device of this characterwhereby a rail may be reliably secured to an underlying cross-tiewithout the use of spikes, screws, etc;I

A further object is to secnre the rail to the tie in such manner 'thatsaid rail cannot tip over, even when subjected to the enormous` pressureexerted by a' rapidly moving train in rounding a curve.

Other objects of the invention will hereinafter appear, and in orderthat said invention may be fnllyun'derstood, reference will now be madeto the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is 'abroken plan view of a rail and the underlying cross-tiebound Vtogether with my appliance.

Fig. 2 is a cross section on line II-II of gig. 3 is a section on lineIII- 1H of ig. 4o' isa detail of a yoke constituting a part of theinvention.

5 i's a section, reduced, on line V-V of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a broken section on line VI-VI of Fig. 1. v

Fig. 7 is a detail of `a tapered member constituting a part of "theinventioii. l v

Fi 8 'is a detailo'f 'a tapered member Whio :coacts with the taperedmember'disclosedby Fig. 7 c

Fig. 9 is amodiied form of the invention. Fi' 10 is a broken fcrosssection on line of Fig. 9.v i if Fig. 11 is 'a section 'on line XI--XIof Fi .'9. p

'designate's a. railand B a cross-tie 11nderl'ying said rail; 1 desiates the tie-plate member 'of myy device, w `ich is interposed betweenthe rail A and the cross-tie B. Said tie-plate niember'halstwojdep'end'ing sleeves 2 and two determinig" studs B, which latterenter recesses 'b' bored into the 'cross-tie to give the proper gage inlaying 'the rails and The longitudinal sides of the tie-plate member 1have flanges l1 and 5, the former of which is adapted to snugly embracethe adjacent rail base flange C, while the latter is spaced from theadjacent rail base ilange as disclosed by Fig. 2, to receive a taperedmember 6, which rests upon the tie-plate member 1 and overlaps theadjacent rail base flange C. One end 'of the tapered member 6 has alongitudinal extension 7 with a ballway 8, having an inclined bottom -9coinmunicating at its lower end with a recess 10 intermediate the endsof the tapered 'mem- 11 designates another tapered member adapted tovcofact with the tapered member 6 in securing the rail A upon thetie-plate member 1,-. Said tapered member 11, like the tapered member 6,fits between the flange 5 and the adjacent side ofthe rail-base flange Cover which it laps. 'The' tapered member 11 has an Io'lgre'ning 12 toreceive the extention 7 of the tapered member, and is provided at theunderside of its upper wall with a hallway 13 adapted to register withthe hallway 8. The top 14 of the hallway 13- inclinesin the samedirection as the ballway 8, but has a greater pitch than the latter tocheck the downward movement :of the ball 15, whereby the two taperedmembers are locked together. The upper end ofthe hallway 13 communicateswith 1a reees"sf1`6,`-in which the ball-15 may be llit-51d to keep itiout of contact with the tapered member 6 by 'a pin introduced throughvholes '17 in opposite walls of the ballway 9.

As disclosed by Fig. 1, the tapered members 6 and 11 have bevel sides 18and 19,respectively, fitting against a corresponding interior wall 2O ofthe flange V5. 'The' wall 20 is beveled in opposite directions from apoint about midway between its ends, so that the closer 'thetaperedmembei's 6 and 1 1 are forced toward each other the tighter theyengage said wall andthe adjacent rail base flange, and causethe llangelvto firmly engage its side of the rail.

S21 designates an vinverted yoke which 'eX- tends around the bottomandtwo sides of Y the cross-tie B and is removably secured in the sleeves 2by balls 22, interposed between the sides of the yoke arms 23 and theadj acent downwardly tapering walls 24 of' the sleeves 2. The balls 22are graduated in size to lit thetapered walls 24 (Fig. 3), so that eachwill do its share of work in holding the yoke arms 23 in theirrespective sleeves. The two uppermost balls in each sleeve 2, are firmlyheld down against the interior of the vwalls 24 and the adjacent side ofthe yoke arms 23, by coil springs 25.

In practice, the tie-plate member 1 is first applied to the cross-tie Band secured thereon by the yoke 21, the arms 23 of which are inserted inthe sleeves 2. As the yoke is pushed' into the sleeves the balls 22allow the arms 28 to freely enter, but any attempt to withdraw the yokeis immediately checked by the balls 22 rictionally and firmly engagingthe arms 23 and the tapered sides 24 of the sleeves. break and have tobe replaced by another, it is turned upside down to allow the balls 22to roll down and release the yoke 21, so that the same can be removedfrom the sleeves 2.

After the tie-plate member 1 has been secured to the cross-tie B, asabove-described, the rail A is firmly secured upon said tieplate memberby driving the tapered members 6 and 11 into position between the flange5 and said rail, Where they are fric# tionally and reliably held by theball 15. In order to remove the rail from the tieplate member 1,-:1a pinis inserted in the recess 10 to push the ball 15 upward into the recess16, after which the tapered members 6 and 11 `can be slid out inopposite directions from beneath the flange 5.

In the modified form disclosed by Figs. 9 to 11, inclusive, theconstruction and application are similar to the preferred form, exceptthat I substitute a screw 15a for the ball 15 Jfor the purpose oflocking the tapered members 6 and 11 in proper position to each otherand in proper'relation to the liange 5 and the underlying rail baseflange. Simi*v lar letters with exponents have been applied to the partsof the modified form corresponding to the similar parts of the preferredform, and hence further description of said modified form is deemedunnecessary.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is:

1. In an appliance of the character described, a tie-plate memberadapted to be interposed between a rail and a cross-tie, a yoke adaptedto extend beneath the crosstie and upward at opposite sides thereof andengage said tie-plate member, and frictional means for securing saidyoke to the tie-plate member. n

2. In an appliance of the character described, a tie-plate memberadapted to be Should the cross-tie B rot or' interposed between a railand a cross-tie, sleeves integral with and depending from said tie-platemember and spaced apart to admit the cross-tie, means extending beneathsaid cross-tie and adapted to enter said sleeves, and devices forsecuring said means in the sleeves.

3. In an appliance of the character described, a tie-plate memberadapted to be interposed between a rail and a cross-tie, sleevesdepending from said tie-plate member and spaced apart to admit thecross-tie, said sleeves having tapered walls, a yoke adapted to extendbeneath the cross-tie and enter said sleeves, and means adapted toengage said yoke and the tapered walls of the sleeves to secure saidyoke therein.

4. In an appliance of the character described, a tie-plate memberadapted to be interposed between a rail and a cross-tie, sleevesdepending from said tie-plate member and spaced apart to admit saidcross-tie, a yoke adapted to extend beneath the crosstie and enter saidsleeves, and balls for locking said yoke within the sleeves.

5. In an appliance of the character described, a tie-plate memberadapted to be interposed between a rail and a cross-tie, studs dependingfrom said tie-plate member and adapted to enter recesses in thecross-tie, sleeves depending from said tie-plate member and spaced apartto admit said crosstie, a yoke adapted to extend beneath the cross-tieand enter said sleeves, balls for locking the yoke within said sleeves,and coil springs bearing against a number of said balls to hold them inengagement with the yoke and the sleeves.

6. In an appliance of the character rdescribed, a tie plate memberadapted to be interposed between a rail and a cross-tie, means forsecuring the rail upon said tieplate member, sleeves depending from saidtie-plate member and spaced apart to admit the cross-tie, a yoke adaptedto extend beneath the cross-tie and enter said sleeves, and means forsecuring said yoke to the sleeves. l

7. In an appliance of the character described, a tie-plate memberadapted to be interposed between a rail and a cross-tie, a flange at oneside of said cross-tie member adapted to snugly embrace one of the railbase flanges, a flange at the opposite side of the tie-plate memberspaced from the adjacent rail base flange, two tapered members adaptedtobe inserted in said space and engage each other and overlap the adjacentrail base flange, and yfrictional means to secure said tapered membersin engagement with each other.

8. In an appliance of the character described, a tie-plate memberadapted to be interposed between a' rail and a cross-tie, a flange atone side of @id tie-plate member adapted to snugly embrace one of therail base flanges, a ian e at the o posite side of the tie-plate memberspaced om the adjacent rail base flange, two tapered members adapted tobe inserted in said space and en-` ga e each other and overlap theadjacent rai -base fiange, and a ball to lock said tapered memberstogether.

9. In an appliance of the -character described, a tie-plate member`adapted to be interposed between a rail and a cross tie, a ange at oneside of said tie-plate member adapted to sn Ely embrace one of the railbase anges, a ange at the o posite side of the tie-plate member spacedFrom the adjacent rail base ilange, two tapered members ve cents each, bWashington, D. 0..

JOHN W. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

F.y G. .F IsoHER, L. J FISCHER.l

addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

